Dealing with a flood of Information?

Feeling lately like you’re getting fed information through a firehose? It’s easy to get overwhelmed. Here are a few things you can try to lessen the strain.

Get Facts from Reliable Sources
Facts fight fear. There are a number of legitimate and reliable sources of COVID-19-related news, including Health Canada, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), John Hopkins' Coronavirus Resource Center and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Use reliable sources to check and verify information that you may get from other, less reliable, sources such as friends, family, neighbours and social media.

Follow Current Recommendations from Experts
Knowledge is Power. Get your information from reliable sources (see above) and follow those expert recommendations. The best way to reduce the risk of getting and spreading COVID-19 are things you can do right now like washing your hands, practicing social distancing and self-quarantining if you feel ill.

Set Limits on Your Media Consumption
Knowledge is power, for sure, and you want to stay informed on a daily basis so you can update your plans for following expert recommendations that may change from day to day.

At the beginning of COVID-19, we were all paying close attention to the news. That made sense while we were all trying to understand what was happening. But, constantly watching the news and waiting for “something” to happen now makes less sense.

Constantly obsessively checking for “news” increases anxiety. Check reliable sources a few times a day at scheduled times, and then walk away. You can choose to unplug from media for most of the day. You’re not avoiding and you are staying informed. If something important changes, you will know about it soon enough.

Practice Social Media Hygiene
Social media is always good for spreading “fake news” and negative emotions (fear, anger, hostility, resentment, etc.). It’s always a good idea to limit social media consumption at the best of times, but especially so now.

Social media consumption will likely increase the amount of “noise” you’re receiving and, therefore, your anxiety. So, try to really limit your consumption. Set a few specific times a day to check your social media. As always, consider muting keywords, posts and feeds or request that you stop seeing updates from sources that make you feel worse.

Don’t Be an Anxiety Vector
Anxiety is contagious too, so don’t spread it.

We’re social animals and we bond with each other through empathy and sharing experiences. Witnessing other people in distress is… distressing. When we’re empathizing and supporting each other, we can either act in a way that increases other peoples’ anxiety or decreases it. It’s a choice we can make.

Social media is an obvious example. You could spend all day retweeting bad news and add to the increase in anxiety, or you can choose to not “pass it on,” and maybe tweet something more hopeful and positive instead.

Think about other interactions in the same way. Sure, acknowledge reality, but try to practice optimism and be the person who stays calm, focused, positive, helpful and imagines a positive future – because those things are contagious, too!